Thatched Cottages in 1920

Most of the old buildings in the village would have been thatched at some time, but sadly (from a visual point of view) many were already tiled by the beginning of the 20th century. The evidence of thatch was still there in 1988 in the attic of my house, a thick layer of dreadful dirt which tended to filter down through the rest of the house – the house was tiled before the 20s. Thatch is expensive, and must be renewed every 30 years or so.

George Russell told Jean Folkard what he remembered of the thatched buildings in his childhood, around 1920, and the families that lived in them…